WAR Wrestle Association-R – Osaka Crush Night 10/11/96
By Maffew Gregg on 13 October 2024
Wrestle Association-R
Osaka Gym
Attendance: 9,110 (6,500)
UWF-i’s stadium show the month prior saw Takada beat Tenryu in front of 41,087 fans (closer to 30,000). Show was described as “okay” and would be UWF-i’s last big one.
However there’s heat between Takada and Tenryu, as Takada agreed to work for rival Tokyo Pro Wrestling’s show on 10/08 against Abdullah the Butcher which ran a few days before this WAR show. I posted this last week but it’s too funny not to share again:
This appearance by Takada creates double heat in that WAR had a show at the same building in Osaka on 10/11 and had paid Takada the big fee as well to appear, and now basically by appearing for Tokyo Pro, which is a rival group, in some ways they’ve undercut his value.
That battle wound up easily being won by WAR, which drew a legitimate sellout and its biggest crowd ever in Osaka on 10/11, while TPW had what was described as a fiasco of a show before a crowd estimated at 1,200 (announced as a ridiculous 3,669) since the Takada-Butcher match was only announced one week before the event and since that is exactly the kind of match the fans who would buy tickets to see Takada wouldn’t want to see.
For the record, Takada beat Butcher in 8:15 in a match described as horrible. Takada looked like he didn’t want to be there from the start and was criticized for making a situation that was already bad that much worse. Because of Butcher’s limitations, there wasn’t one wrestling move in the match. Takada sold the first 6:00 for Butcher’s chops and head-butts and finally Butcher did the running elbow but Takada kicked out. Takada’s comeback consisted of a flurry of kicks, mainly to the chest, and a pin. After the match, when the reporters went backstage to interview Takada, they were told by Takada’s p.r. people that Takada wanted a few minutes to take a shower and would be available after the main event (a match with Takashi Ishikawa losing to Anjoh billed as for the Presidency of TPW–judging from the attendance, either nobody bought the angle or cared about it, I was told it was the former).
While the main event was going on, Takada and his contingent all snuck out of the building.
Takashi Okamura vs. Jun Kikuchi
Okamura is dressed in a sad looking gi that seems to be made out of Sabu’s tights. I don’t know if he’s ready to strip or get shot by Blake’s 7. Space whore wins with a kick to the head at 8:19.
WAR vs. Yume Factory Showdown
Osamu Tachihikari vs. Masakazu Fukuda
Fukuda’s second busts out an amazing Handspring Swanton to the outside to start off, meaning the best wrestler isn’t in the match. The other bloke interferes to keep this interesting because Osamu needs carrying more than Baron Harkonnen. Chokeslam ends a heavily clipped 3:46 with Fukuda kicking out at three anyway because sure why not.
Masaaki Mochizuki & Arashi vs. Tatsumi Kitahara & Yuji Yasuraoka
Yuji is already shoved back into the mid-card despite being tag champ a few months ago. Mochizuki’s springboard kicks look lovely but are possibly too stiff for Kitahara who counters a flurry by absolutely SMACKING Mochizuki in the face.
Mochizuki is discombobulated after that, throwing his kicks like The Sandman and I’m guessing this is why this match is so clipped.
Mochizuki makes a mess out of a springboard dropkick, kickstarting a brawl on the outside and allowing Yuji to land his very high crossbody. Kitahara helps Mochizuki by dragging him to the outside repeatedly as Mochizuki is clearly fucked up. Crowd are enjoying laughing at his antics. Arashi nails a Frog Splash at 15:29 to shove a pillow into the face of this disaster. Kitahara really enjoyed hitting people so hard they couldn’t walk straight because he’s a chubby moron.
WWA Welterweight Title Match
Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis
Rey realises this is getting edited so he gets as much offence in as possible by landing his springboard Frankensteiner to propel Psicosis out the ring so he can follow him with a giant little plancha. Springboard moonsault lands on Psicosis’ knees as this is match has been reduced to just the high-spots. In fairness, it’s not like there was much else in Rey’s WAR matches. Psicosis is a good foil for Rey as he’s slower and bigger which gives this match at least some semblance of a story as opposed to simply flips. Which they both do well, with Psicosis landing a springboard moonsault to the outside which due to the nature of editing is followed up with Rey springboarding a Frankensteiner to send Psi outside. By the time I’ve typed this up there’s been a dozen amazing Frankensteiners and moonsaults but there’s zero flow due to the clipped nature so it’s a hard one to recommend. Finally Rey counters a Psicosis roll-up with the Zack Sabre Jr. bridge to win at 5:21 shown of 13:31.
If you like Rey but only have 5:21 to spare then this is for you, otherwise watch his other non-clipped matches in Japan.
Nobutaka Araya & Nobukazu Hirai vs. Gedo & Jado
The Gun are wearing half-face paint in an attempt to look less ridiculous. This match is clipped to buggery too so it didn’t work.
Araya dunks Gedo around until Jado spikes him with a wonderful German suplex. This carries on and on as Hirai & Araya are solid and workmanlike but then again so are toilets. Hirai’s top rope elbow finishes at 8:48.
J-Crown Junior Heavyweight 8 Title Match
The Great Sasuke vs. Ultimo Dragon
OH HERE WE FUCKING GO.
Sasuke is fresh off winning the J-Crown from Ultimo in a tournament final in August. As a reminder that means Sasuke currently holds the following:
- Michinoku Pro Wrestling’s British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
- Wrestle Yume Factory’s NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship
- Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre’s NWA World Welterweight Championship
- Universal Wrestling Association’s World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship
- Wrestle Association R’s International Junior Heavyweight Championship
- World Wrestling Association’s World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship
- World Wrestling Federation’s Light Heavyweight Championship
These two are absolutely wonderful during the feeling-out process in big matches. Such intense openings are usually reserved for Bolt-Thrower songs.
The two big weebs focus on one another’s limbs while constantly moving around or trying to counter, I feel this aspect is overlooked compared to their high-flying. Dragon gets sent into the turnbuckles but vaults up and holds himself there as Sasuke is unsure what to do HEY YOU CAN DO THAT IN THE VIDEO GAMES.
Sasuke eventually runs into a kick but he turns this into an exercise on who can out-work the other with a fast-paced counter/bounce/indie stand-off-when-that-meant-something. More lovely feeling out results in Sasuke hobbling outside the ring to have a strop, with Ultimo teasing a dive to annoy him some more. A bitchy Sasuke tries to twist Ultimo’s ankle off but he wrangles out to suplex Sasuke so hard the ref has to check on him. Jesus, that’s some suplex. Crowd are roaring at Sasuke to get up as I wonder if I’ve missed something. Dragon assists by landing a DDT and getting suspended by AEW as a result. Sasuke assures everyone he’s OK so Dragon handspring elbows him outside. Sasuke sees the bugger flying outside (he’s wearing bright red) and sends him down with a side-step and lands an amazingly stupid dropkick off the top to the outside.
Sasuke somehow has the advantage as he rolls Dragon back in to land an in-ring Asai Moonsault. Ultimo turns a powerbomb into a Frankensteiner pin but it only gets two. Crowd sounds like they’re on fire. In a good way. Sasuke dives directly into a dropkick but can’t pin Sasuke as he gets a backslide out of nowhere. Dragons spins across Sasuke’s shoulders to do the Rey Mysterio Frankensteiner off the pin before finishing with the running Liger Bomb at 13:43.
I could watch these two fuckers every weekday and twice on Sunday. I’ve seen others complain about the shortness of this match but I’m not a size queen so I was more than happy with what I got here, as Sasuke’s selling was already getting the crowd exploding at the merest touch. Amazing stuff.
And yes, this gives Ultimo eight belts.
No wait, nine belts because he’d suddenly remember he’d won the NWA Middleweight Title a few years ago and never lost it.
And he’d only gain more.
WAR World 6 Man Tag Titles
Nobuhiko Takada & Naoki Sano & Masahito Kakihara vs. Yoji Anjo & Bam Bam Bigelow & Kodo Fuyuki
Fuyuki realises Takada doesn’t like his style so he immediately starts with his yelling & stomping, with the camera catching Takada’s disgusted face. That was nice. Fuyuki doesn’t appreciate being chopped so he tags in Anjo who holds his hands up for a long time with Takada looking more annoyed and confused. This match rules so far because everyone is fucking with the semi-legendary shooter dude.
Anjo deals with Takada by rolling him into ankle locks with Takada reminding everyone he can do that too (just not against Gracies). Anjo does a good job of keeping Takada occupied and he’s willing to sell for him because they’re from the same kingdom. Crowd is happy when Bigelow tags in, even if his big bumping offence like press slams and falling headbutts feel out of place amongst these shooters. Sano’s leg gets worked over with double-teaming, in much the same way a WWF tag team would work over a limb. This is such a weird mix of styles. It works and the crowd’s into it but it’s also mildly amusing at the same time.
Takada hot tags in to stop this Action Zone nonsense and kicks the hell out of Bam Bam who is more than happy to wibble-wobble-jelly-on-a-plate sell for everything and aaaah that’s why he’s in this match. Bigelow slams Takada and crowd are shocked when Takada kicks out. Hell yeah. Anjo tags in, gets one shot in on Takada who then promptly NOPES out of that with a vicious spinning dragon Screw into an ankle lock. Fuyuki tries to break it up but the UWF-i guys hate Anjo so continue to batter and stretch him while his face shrivels up into Gilbert Gottfried levels of anguish.
Fuyuki eventually saves him and the crowd boos. To be clear, the crowd like Fuyuki but don’t like it when he stops Anjo being in pain. Bigelow attempts to suplex Kakihara but Takada mule kicks him in the back of the head, allowing a lovely ankle lock to get sunk in. Bigelow is tremendous in these settings because he’s bumping while on the mat to emote with his size letting you know this hold sucks. Fuyuki tags in to cheers and the crowd joins in with his roaring, even when Sano starts punting him in the face. Fuyuki low-blows to escape and crowd boo-cheers. Sano lets Anjo get maybe five seconds of offence in before everyone resumes stretching him again. Anjo makes a comeback with a corner kicks and strikes and NO-ONE REACTS. My God is this man despised. Fuyuki is able to get his crew to do triple teams despite not being in The Gun, with Bigelow splashing Sano off the top before taking a clothesline out the ring, making a lot out of two bumps. It all breaks down with Fuyuki sending Takada outside, allowing Anjo to reverse a cradle from Kakihara into a Rolling Prawn Hold to get the tap out 11:32.
A lot of fun if you’re OK seeing contrasting styles going at it. If not, seeing the shoot lads take press slams must seem like sacrilege but the genie was out the bottle for UWF-i ever since NJPW massacred them anyway. Also lovely hearing the differing crowd reactions depending on the context of what Anjo was up to.
So after Tenryu had been taking a back-seat for months to let Fuyuki take the spotlight, he followed up by uhhh firing him.
Apparently this is not an angle although it sounds like one, but there is real heat in WAR between Genichiro Tenryu and Hiromichi Fuyuki, who are the group’s biggest stars and have a relationship that dates back to All Japan. Publicly Tenryu doesn’t like Fuyuki’s comedy style and says it has no place in WAR. In addition, NHK (one of the Japanese networks) recently did a show on pro wrestling (Hashimoto, Yoji Anjoh and Great Sasuke were guests) and in an interview with Fuyuki, he said something to the effect that pro wrestling was worked which also got traditionalists like Tenryu hot about admitting that on a highly rated network show. Fuyuki worked Kitao’s show on 7/26 and said he was going to work on the indie circuit leaving WAR.
Uh oh.
More legal problems. Hiromichi Fuyuki, Gedo and Jado all quit WAR after the 10/28 Korakuen Hall show. It was well known for months that Fuyuki would be leaving when his contract expired on 12/7. WAR President Takei had a meeting with Fuyuki on 10/25 where he, Gedo and Jado said they would work 10/28 and be finished, even though they were booked and advertised through the end of this current tour on 11/2. Gedo & Jado are under contract for a longer period of time and Takei said if they appear for another promotion, he’d file a legal action against them.
UH OH.
You can tell something’s up here as Anjo & Bigelow pose with their titles while Fuyuki immediately leaves the ring.
The camera follows him to the back where he hugs Jado & Gedo and leaves the arena in a touching moment.
Fuyuki-Gun have been one of the most dependable and entertaining things for this company for years, consistently putting out bangers and being an important part of Jericho’s amazing run. Them leaving leaves a giant hole in WAR’s cards so this main event better be big.
Genichiro Tenryu vs. The Great Muta
Oh OK.
Tenryu beat Mutoh in a tag match years ago as part of the never-ending WAR/NJPW feud but this is their first singles match and the first time the Muta gimmick has tangled with Mr. Wrestling. Plus there’s actually a chance Tenryu could lose here as opposed to his Doomguy-esque rampage he was on in 1994.
Tenryu lobs the ceremonial flowers at Muta before he’s dis-robed. Crowd is very loud for both men with the chants overlapping along with the streamers. Bell rings and Muta sprays the mist into the air, waits for Tenryu to look relieved that that is out the way before spraying a different coloured mist. Two mists before a match? That’s insane Jeremy.
Muta runs outside to keep Tenryu guessing. Tenryu instead waits for Muta to re-enter and kick him in the face which seems reasonable. Muta rolls out of a lariat attempt to kick Tenryu outside and follow with an unfolding chair to the back. Muta charges out of the darkness with the long run lariat but Tenryu goes “no” and Muta falls backwards despite perfectly nailing the move. Ha! Muta gets mad and shatters a bottle at ringside, with the shards landing in the ring and scaring the fans. Muta stabs Tenryu in the forehead as crowd loudly boo. Tenryu is able to bleed everywhere for the ringside photographers’ enjoyment followed by Muta’s sweet snap elbow. Muta piledrives Tenryu on a Japanese table before proceeding to saunter around like a wrong ‘un. Tenryu oversells the random objects Muta proceeds to lob into his forehead as the crowd soaks it all in.
Tenryu tries a hard chop but Muta responds with a vacant stare. Tenryu lands a backdrop suplex but Muta bounces up, does another one and Muta chops him to the floor. Man. I’m in two minds because Muta is doing very little but he’s doing it wonderfully. Tenryu chops Muta so hard the sweat flying off him is visible in the darkened arena which is always lovely. Tenryu lands the Blind Elbow with Muta easily kicking out, so Tenryu soaks his fist with his own blood before punching Muta in the face OH HELL YEAH.
Tenryu throws chairs and tables into the ring and is prepared to dismantle Muta, who promptly mists him directly in the face. Handspring Elbow in the corner follows as the crowd hasn’t shut up the last five minutes, with Tenryu’s attempts at a comeback being halted every time. The ref tries to beg Muta off but he gets shoved aside. Muta ducks a chop so Tenryu can get hit in the mid-section and fall on the table long enough for Muta to moonsault him on the unbreakable Japanese Table.
Crowd are going wild as Muta decides to attack Tenryu’s second and grab his white shirt to really make the blood stand out as he chokes Tenryu with it. Muta attempts a something off the top enabling Tenryu to powerbomb him for two. A second lands perfectly but Muta mists Tenryu AGAIN. Tenryu looks fed the fuck up while Muta goes under the ring for some…streamers? To use as a weapon? Well OK, you do you. Tenryu holds Muta’s mouth open to prevent yet more spraying in yet another cool moment. Tenryu lariats him, causing residual mist to fly out but Muta still kicks out. Small package doesn’t end it so Tenryu wraps him up with a third powerbomb and no spray at 17:19.
I remember hating this match when I saw it years ago because Muta was often an excuse for Muto to half-arse it while pretending to be The Undertaker circa 1991. While that’s true, he’s also over as hell and was able to tease the tonsils of the fans with his limited offence. So years later I’m impressed by what he’s able to do and how he does it, which is essentially “Tiger Jeet Singh if he left his feet.” Tenryu was a willing dance partner as he enjoys selling his arse off and timing his comeback on the audience’s reactions. There was also a load of wonderful moments to GIF which instantly makes it must-browse for readers of the BOD.
Tenryu would eventually go 6-3 over Muta in singles matches, swapping both the IWGP Heavyweight Title and Triple Crown over the years during the crazy period known as “the early 2000s.”
Overall: Watch the last three matches and fuck everything else. WAR continues to look like a success if you watch with one eye open.
Next week: WAR-ISM at Korakuen Hall!